Etta Elyis
Henrietta Elyis '''(nee Cunning) also known as '''Etta, played by Kiersten Warren, wass the rowdy mother of Austin and Nicholas Elyis seen in Season One of Cherry Hill. She is seen in a flashback of the episode Bad Twin, where it see's her deal with the death of her husband and the boys' father in 2005. Though she has not been seen in present time, she is regularly said to be on a luxury cruise, leaving her children without parental guidance. She died from a drug overdose off-screen during Season Four, promting Austin to reunite with his brother. Backstory In the flashback of 2005, we see Austin playing on a gaming system when his father shuts it off, Austin then falls out with his father over this which results in his dad (who seems to be a heavy alcoholic) grab Austin and threaten him, he throws a bottle which cuts his arm-though whilst this goes on, Etta's whereabouts are unknown- Mr. Elyis demands Austin to clean the mess, Nicholas intervenes and does it for him, saving his brother from more abuse. In the second flashback, Austin finds his mother crying and his father 'asleep' on the sofa. When he asks what's wrong she tells him their father is dead, yet somehow blames Austin by saying 'You've finally got what you wanted!', she explains the death as an overdose as their dad loved his drugs in an annoyed fashion. She shouts at the boys to go to their room as the ambulance arrives, cradling his body. In Homecoming, she is seen following the scene from Bad Twin, in which she orders Nicholas to also go up to his room, stating she knew the drugs would end it all one day. Season 2 Etta returned after nearly a year away on a supposed 'cruise' leaving the twins to cater for themselves. In Six Months Later... , Etta was seen looking annoyed with her sons after seeing Nicholas ill in bed and Austin looking for him, the kids looks almost as unenthused to see her. The twins had been expecting their cousin, so were surprised to see her. In Fly Away, Etta appears stressed with her kids and neither ask about one another despite the six month absence, whilst he is alone with her, Nicholas remarks he noticed Etta has drugs on her- unaware he had been using- Etta tells her son that she is selling drugs in order to make ends meet, she tells her son that since she left following their father's death, she had been trying to find peace of mind and found a niche in the market to give her the money that would apparently put her mind at ease. They were then interrupted by the arrival of her niece, Bobbi, who seemed to have inherited Etta's demeanor. It was later revealed that Etta had been dealing drugs to make ends meet, however instead of dealing drugs themself she had been packaging salt. When her client and sons rival, Nigel, discovered this he and his friends went to search for Etta and in the process held the twins party hostage. This ended up with three deaths, knowing there was little way out of this, Etta ran away and left her sons to deal with the consequences. Season 3 Over four months later, Etta returned to the neighborhood again, much to the anger of Austin who had been coping with his and Nicholas' problems now that Nicholas had been remanded in custody for killing Lydia Harper in a hit-and-run incident. She returned without warning, causing Austin to nearly batter her believing that she was a burgular, it later appeared that Etta had returned following her banishment from a religious cult upstate- Etta elaborated that she had confessed her crime to the police and was given police custody thanks to the cults report of her, however they threw her out after she broke their rule of no alcohol by spiking their punch- it was found out that she had not recieved Austin's calls as she had hande din her phone whilst joining the colony and therefore knew nothing of Nicholas' legal battle. Etta soon became more anxious and masked this by overthrowing herself into campaigning for Nicholas' release by confronting Joohn and Jennifer about the situation, however Austin made Etta promise not to tell anyone the truth that there were other people in that car, whilst Etta did lose face to a raging Jennifer, she turned to Austin and told him he wasn't as different to her as he made out. The two made up but argued frequently about her skills as a parent and a mother, Etta threatened to cut herself off from the family unit after Nicholas had been refused his appeal and Austin had turned to Jennifer. In Masquerade, Etta tired of being taken for granted tells her son she can't bond with him and that she can't save Nicholas, Austin and her then fall out again and he storms round to the Meyer household where Jennifer tells him to give her another chance. Upon his return to the house he finds Etta has packed and left with a note simply saying Sorry xoxo.